Friday, 19 June 2015

I gathered road side apples and juiced them this year, then put the juice in two containers in the hot water cupboard.

The first batch I added the remnants of a Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar with Mother bottle to it. It went straight to alcohol, and seems to still be alcohol. I guess it is probably apple cider now.

The second batch (pictured below) was just apple juice. Unfortunately, I didn't keep an eye on it, and while it quickly turned to vinegar, the mother went moldy. As I understand it, as long as you remove the mold while it's still white on fermented products, it's supposed to be safe.

What to do with this? It looks quite good, and similar to the Bragg's vinegar.

One use I've seen recommended for it, is to water the citrus or blueberries with, as both like an slightly more acid soil.

I was hoping the ground was wet enough that the snow would melt. Unfortunately, not. The power has been out all morning, except for one brief interlude when I heard the washing machine turn on when I was outside.

The maple tree holds a fair bit of snow.

The chicken coop fencing is down. It wouldn't have done much good to shut the chickens into their fenced area. None of the chickens was keen to venture out into the snow.

The view of the back of the house from the field.

One lone chicken ventured out between my gumboot prints. This one is headed for the shed to lay an egg, some of the chickens seem to prefer it to the coop, some days.

Every year branches drop off the eucalyptus tree in the front yard. Usually it's because of wind. The front hedge, which is 50% mexican orange blossom's, is somewhat depressed.

Some tree, maybe an ash, couldn't deal with the snow, around the found of house.

The sun has started to come out, so the snow is starting to melt, and I can hear it fall from trees around the house.